Bambolino's
| Bambolino's | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1987 |
| City | Houston |
| State | Texas |
| Country | United State of America |
| Coordinates | 29°44′34″N 95°23′55″W / 29.742640°N 95.398695°W |
Bambolino's is an Italian American restaurant in Houston, Texas. The original Bambolino's Inc. restaurant chain was established by Ninfa Laurenzo and her family, who had established the Ninfa's restaurant chain. The original Bambolino's was controlled by the holding company RioStar Corp.
Managers and investors of the Ninfa's restaurant chain established Bambolino's. Most of the funding came from the Ninfa's Inc. restaurants. When Bambolino's started, it raised $400,000 through a private placement of notes and an additional $160,000 through a debt-and-equity arrangement with MESBIC Financial Corp. Bambolino's was the Laurenzo family's second attempt in making an Italian-American restaurant. The first Bambolino's was scheduled to open on March 30, 1987 in Southwest Houston. The Laurenzo family hoped that the increasing trend of carry-out food would help the restaurant chain's success. The original Bambolino's was to be only serving carry out and drive through customers. Each location consisted of a group of portal spaces that could occupy 275 square feet (25.5 m2) in two spaces in a standard parking lot. The president of Ninfa's and a son of Ninfa Laurenzo, Roland Laurenzo, said that this would allow a Bambolino's restaurant to make relatively few sales in order to break even.
In February 1987 the company elected D. Drue Pollan Jr. as the president, Leo J. Kelleher as the chief financial officer, and Joanne L'Abbate as the secretary-treasurer. The first restaurant opened in April 1987. It was the Ninfa's company's first restaurant established since the dissolving of the joint venture with McFaddin Ventures. In June 1987 Ninfa Laurenzo signed for the second location, at the intersection of Durham Drive and Washington Avenue. It was scheduled to open at the end of the month. In September 1987 Ninfa Laurenzo signed for the lease of the fourth location on Montrose Boulevard. In February 1988 the chain leased 14,654 square feet (1,361.4 m2) of space to house its fifth location.
In 1989 and 1990, RioStar converted four Bambolino's locations into Ninfa's Cafe fajitarias. The first conversion occurred in November 1989, and the conversions of the other three occurred afterwards. Ten Bambolino's remained. In 1992 Houston Intercontinental Airport (now George Bush Intercontinental Airport) had two Bambolino's locations, with one in Terminal C and one in the Mickey Leland International Airlines Building (now Terminal D).
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